Dax Shepard has once again asked a question which he himself deemed to be "inappropriate," but thankfully Cynthia Erivo took it on the chin and gave him the most graceful response ever.
The Wicked star appeared on the Armchair Expert podcast with Shepard and Monica Padman for a two-hour conversation recently, and about halfway through the recording, the Idiocracy actor commented on Erivo's very long, very iconic nails.
"Can I ask you a really crazy question that's inappropriate?" he said. When the actress gave him permission, he began, "When you're wiping your butt..."
Erivo cut him off, "I knew you would ask that question!" She added, "Everybody asks that question," before explaining, "My answer is that nobody uses just their fingers to wipe their backside. You use tissue, correct? And you wipe!"
Shepard further enquired, "Does the tissue go on the tip of the fingernails, or do you try to get the tissue on the…" with Erivo telling him, "Pads of the fingers."
The dad of two said, "Okay, great, great, great. We’re getting somewhere. And then you’re just feeling the little tickle of the nails on the crack of your butt sometimes?"
Erivo told him, "No, because the tissue's there!"
Shepard then said that his technique if his nails were very long would be to make a "mitten" with the toilet paper, but Erivo revealed, "I fold."
Padman then piped up, "I bunch."
Shepard went on to ask if Erivo is annoyed by this question, especially since she gets it so often, and she said, "I get it. I'm annoyed by it. I'm, like, 'Come on, guys.' But I get it, but it's also, like, 'I'm a functioning adult, and I've never walked around smelling like, you know…'"
She continued, "Here’s the thing, there are people who do not have nails who need to check how they’re wiping."
When she's asked the question, Erivo added, "I’m like, 'I mean, I’m here! I’m dressed.'"
The Harriet actress always has the most beautiful, most intricate manicures, and makes sure to center them in her red carpet looks, such as when she showed up with not one but two stunning manis at the Mexico City Wicked premiere earlier this month.
The highly anticipated movie hits theaters on Nov. 22.
